Ideas development and planning for Vivienne Westwood fanzine.

1. Factual:
Idea Development and Planning
Olivia Day

2. Initial ideas:
Produce a fanzine which studies the art of Vivienne Westwood’s designs and the early phase of her rise to fame
in the fashion industry. I will also be studying the punk fashion movement which Westwood’s designs were very
primal in and maintain the edgy effect in the aesthetic of the fanzine.

3. Mood board (or other idea development work):

4. Mood board analysis:
The mood board displays the overall mood and different styles that will be combined in the product which I am
expecting to produce. It is based around the early days of Vivienne Westwood’s career in fashion design as it
frequently features the early punk aesthetic which I intend on mirroring through my design of the fanzine. The
majority of the images in the mood board are from late 1990s and some even aging back to the 80s where punk
fashion was an up and coming trend in the fashion industry. I am going to give my product the visual effect that
it could’ve been a fanzine produced in the 90s however I will incorporate modern topics such as the fast
fashion crisis and its effects on the climate. A similarity of the images shown in the mood board is that they all
tend to have a similar colour palette of deep red and purple, green and blue. The dark colours symbolise the
punkish symbolism in the designs of the runway clothing. The punk culture is often political and against social
issues. I believe that incorporating Westwood’s viewpoint on social issues and her activist movements as the
underlying message throughout my zine offers the opportunity to produce in-depth interviews on the topic of
the corruption of modern day fashion industry. However, I do not want to ignore the skill for fashion design
which Westwood acquires and therefore I will replicate the appearance of a fashion scrapbook/look book
throughout the pages of the zine, featuring in-process designs and sketches. This way, the appearance of the
zine will give the impression that is was DIY’ed, much like a fashion designer would design concepts for their
designs/runway shows in scrapbook form. I am targeting the young and influential female audience (16-25) as
they are the highest consumers of fast fashion and therefore have the opportunity to make a change. I believe
that this is a successful mood board as it depicts the visual aesthetic I am attempting to portray throughout my
fanzine and the target audience I am reaching.

5. Planning:
In order to plan for my fanzine efficiently, I will have
conducted research on existing products so that I can
develop a recognition of the many artistic fanzine
formats that have been produced in the past. Whether
they be punk/alternative style, early y2k teen zine, or
professionally produced by an organization, I will
magpie elements from my research that will tie into the
aesthetic that I have in mind for my own product. In
addition to this, I have directed a mock interview during
college hours so that I can be prepared for when I
interview subjects for my fanzine. By doing so, I have
learnt that it is important to prepare questions
beforehand. Therefore, I will arrange the questions for
my interview prior to asking them and then find a few
people who fit into the same description as my target
audience who will happily partake in being featured in
my fanzine.
As for preparing for production, I will have to create a
rough draft of the design layouts. I intend on doing so
by drawing the pages of the fanzine with pencil and
paper. This way, when I reach the point of production, I
will have envisioned a concept which I can reference. I
can experiment with diverse visual styles of the fanzine

6. Interview Planning:
Questions:
1. What does sustainability mean to you?
2. What does fashion mean to you?
3. Is fashion an important part of your life?
4. How often would you say that you buy clothes?
5. Which brands do you usually shop from? – Then elaborate on the climate effects.
6. Do you ever research the sustainability of the brands you shop from? Or do you just purchase something if
you like how it looks without thinking about it?
7. If you think about sustainable clothing, what would you say that are some important features or attributes
that it should have? E.g. Good quality? Trendy? Etc.
8. What do you feel like are current barriers between you and purchasing sustainable fashion consumption
e.g. small businesses?
9. Usually when you buy clothes, what is the reasoning behind the purchase? Want or need?
10. How do you think that the whole fashion industry should change in order to be more sustainable?
For the interviews, I am going to spend time outside of college interviewing someone who fits the criteria of
my target audience so that the readers may be able to relate to the interviewee in some way. I will then insert
the interview over the course of a few pages of the zine (depending on how in depth their responses are).
Additionally I am going to ask the same questions on a survey which I will produce and send to a few people
who fit into the target audience of my fanzine so that I can evaluate the results into the writing the conclusion/
summary of my magazine as I will have additional research into the consumerism of fast fashion vs sustainable
fashion.

7. Content – Pagination:
Throughout the fanzine, I will cover the different styles of Vivienne Westwood’s designs and the early phases of
the fashion revolution that she was yet to surmount. As fashion is often appealing to many young women,
maintaining the main theme of fashion looks and designs will interest my target audience
(https://medium.com/the-future-of-the-fashion-industry-sustainabile/young-women-and-the-fast-fashion-
industry-794a809ceb6b).
1. I am going to start with an introduction to Vivienne Westwood herself, beginning with facts and the story of
her start in fashion.
2. Following that, the first few pages will each be different for each subgenre of Westwood’s projects, from her
early punk design to her runway shows that display her many collections e.g., Anglomania collection, Portrait
collection, Pirate collection, and Witches collection.
3. Next, I am going to include a brief study of the model Sara Stockbridge and how she acted as Vivienne
Westwood’s muse from 1985 until 1991.
4. I will then move onto the controversy which many of the early designs sparked, considering the way in which
society was wired. This will unfold the topic of activism and social justice that I will follow up with.
5. Subsequently, I plan to go into detail of campaigns in which Vivienne Westwood stood for and the political
messages which followed through her designs.
6. Taking inspiration from the activism shown by Westwood, I will go onto describe to the readers steps which
we can take in order to build a more sustainable fashion industry, much like Vivienne herself stood for.
7. Afterwards, I will have conducted interviews that cover the topics of opinions on fast fashion and how to
overcome it. The interviews will cover a number of pages.
8. Finally, I am going to create a look book of pre-loved clothes that replicate a similar aesthetic of Vivienne
Westwood designs so that I can show that sustainably buying clothing can still appear as ‘fashionable’.

8. Contingency Planning:
Potential issues Solution
I may not have access to photoshop on my
computer at home.
At college I will put all of my attention and focus
into my production on photoshop so that at home,
if I need to, I can focus on other elements of
production which do not require photoshop e.g.,
fanzine mock-up as it only requires pencil and paper
or spend time interviewing subjects which will
feature in the fanzine. Additionally, I will spend free
periods (SCAN sessions) at college catching up work
I missed the opportunity to complete.
My computer may stop corrupt/ break down. I will use a USB to download all of my work onto so
that it is all together which I make sure to eject in
order to prevent corruption.
My interviewee may not be available on the date
which I need to interview or could cancel last minute
causing a delay in the interview process.
Reschedule a date which is convenient for the
interview and I or potentially interview via text/
video chat.
In the event of taking photos outdoors, there may
be unexpected bad weather which will effect the
quality of the images.
Ensure that I check the weather forecast prior to
taking the images or settle on an alternative location
which is indoors.
My interviewee may become indefinitely unavailable
to partake in the interview.
Always have a strong back up interviewee who will
be available to pitch in last minute.

9. Production Schedule:
Week 1
1. Produce a list of people I plan to interview – at college or home (30/11/22)
2. Create first draft of the fanzine, handwritten or digitally – at home (30/11/22)
3. Record interview to reference from when producing the interview pages of the fanzine – at home (2/12/22)
Week 2
4. Take images for fanzine using my camera – at home (5/12/22)
5. Go over images I have taken and see if there is anything I may need to re-take – at home (9/12/22)
Week 3 & 4
6. Begin post production – at college (14/12/22)
7. Ensure production diary is updated daily with progression of my editing
Week 5 & 6
8. Evaluation – at college (18/01/23)